District Matters

Working together and effectively to ride the storm

April 2022

Last week we were able to support our first Ukrainian refugees. The story they told had a profound effect on our customer services team dealing with them. As one said, we see the pictures on the television, but meeting and talking to individuals has brought the stark reality home.

On a more general point, when I go to work in Elizabeth House, I see more people queuing up to see the customer services team for help, support and guidance. Perhaps it should not be a surprise.

The war in Ukraine has brought home just how fast the world can change and how strategies that appeared to work suddenly have to be turned on their head. I think Europe has, collectively, had to do just that. We have been reminded that the world is not necessarily a safe place.

Far too often people either fail to notice, fail to understand or, quite simply, do not want to acknowledge how much things are changing. The result is that they continue with strategies and policies that no longer meet the needs of the changed circumstances. Arguably the recent decision to build more nuclear generating capacity falls squarely into this category.

We have already seen one manifestation of the changing world. The completion of the Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) is now delayed by 2/3 months. Given all the issues in supply chains and the labour market, we are not counting on there being no further delays. This will have implications for the waste collection and recycling service which will inevitably push up costs.

On the plus side, there was a photoshoot almost two weeks ago to celebrate the start of demolition work at Swans Landing, the first phase in the redevelopment of the Canal Quarter. This really is a milestone that has been a long time coming. It reinforces one of the trends we are seeing that, even when planning permission is granted, it does take time for projects to start.

What we are also seeing is, in some instances, a reluctance to accept the legitimate and realistic constraints we want to place on projects to ensure substantial benefits for the District. Negotiations can become protracted and a little fraught. We do, however, stand our ground. We also have proposals from developers which simply do not meet the best interests of the District. Once again, it leads to more fraught and time consuming negotiations.

It has to be remembered that planning applications cannot be refused on a whim. There have to be valid planning reasons to do so. The fact that local residents, however many there might be, do not like a scheme is not a valid planning reason for refusal. Planning is not a popularity contest.

There is one initiative we have taken this year that has delivered excellent results. The District Council received £1.227 million in additional resources grant to provide support to businesses. We worked closely with the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership Growth Hub to target companies that could deliver real benefits. Together we helped 39 businesses, created 135 jobs and safeguarded a further 703 jobs. Businesses all across the District were helped. It demonstrates what can be achieved by the District Council with a relatively small amount of money if it is carefully targeted.

It is good to see that the fine weather is bringing more and more people into Stratford. I am told that this includes international tourists and, even better, I am told that they are spending money. We also need to remember that tourism is an activity that happens across the District, not just in Stratford town. We also need to remember that it is our second biggest industry. It has a substantial impact on the prosperity of the whole District and the success of all our High Streets.

Finally, and I know I have mentioned this before but I do want to reinforce it; we have a strong Cabinet team and a strong officer team. What's even more important, we work closely and openly together. Although the District faces uncertain, volatile and challenging times, I have confidence that we are in the best possible position to ride out the inevitable storms.